Fate\/World Novel Chapter 57

Chapter 57: Chapter 57

Sorry about yesterday, I was a little under the weather.

-

As I made my way through the forest at an, admittedly, casual pace for the current state of conflict, I began to notice irregularities. The way the trees swayed, the dry branches that seed to coil and dance just out of sight, even the shadows that were at tis too long or too orderly for a place like this.

It was unnatural, not in the way that there was sothing out of place, unnatural in that everything was a little too in place, too ticulous in arrangent.

"Byron Iselma... Iselma... Wait, I rember. It’s Byron Valualeta Iselma. He’s one of Inorai’s people."

A Lord from the Valuay. The Departnt of Creation.

With that realisation, it clicked. Those people prided themselves artists, focusing on that which could move the hearts of the masses at any given ti, valuing that which stood the test of ti. Subjects like beauty and whatnot. It was only natural for one among them to be needlessly ticulous and perfectionist, with even his own ho.

To an outsider like myself, pursuing art so vehently seed a little ’strange’ for magi. But, the study had its roots in sound logic. In this day and age, no, in any day and age, belief and faith were the greatest stabilising factor in regards to mystery, to be able to manipulate that was certainly a worthwhile pursuit for people like them.

Ah well. I was only really concerned with getting to see whatever magecraft that Lord possessed.

It didn’t take long to find my target.

Byron Valualeta Iselma. He stood regally in a small clearing within the forest, both hands resting atop a dark wooden cane. His age had to be up there, definitely, but that only added to his grace, his dark hair was neatly combed to the back, and the sides were white from age, his pencil moustache was peppered with strands of grey too.

And, yeah, with a red suit that seed to scream noble and old money, I had to admit he looked pretty cool even if his clothes were marked with burns.

He regarded his assailants calmly, even though there had to be at least two dozen n there. They were raincoats, suited for the weather, and gasmasks for so odd reason. Still, I couldn’t say anything. Compared to my hand-sewn wool sweater and jeans, those guys looked aweso too.

But, my sweater was made by my mother. So they could suck on that. They were magi, their mothers probably never even gave them the ti of day. Hmph.

"So, you’re the one that entered my territory?" Lord Byron glanced at

from the corner of his eyes. "I admit, I thought Lord Valualeta was intent on leaving

with these insolent dogs."

He recognised . Well, it wasn’t that unreasonable. I was getting a reputation because of the Cause promotion, and if he was aligned with the democrats, he was definitely aware of . It was still kind of creepy to realise though.

I tilted my head. "You noticed ?"

"I notice all within my land. Your aid is welco."

Surprisingly, those n in raincoats said nothing as I stepped up to him. They just watched, exchanging glances I couldn’t understand because of the masks.

"I’m not here on Inorai’s behalf though. The Professor sent ."

"Professor... The Lord El-lloi?"

"Lord El-lloi II." I corrected, stretching my arms. "Dunno why but he gets pressed about that. So yeah, you understand you owe him a favour if I can beat them right?"

"Even if it is you... with these numbers..." He said, hesitant.

I understood what he ant. In this day and age, where a gunshot was fatal for most magi, numbers were indeed an issue. I’d always thought that was because magi pursued Mystery as an educational field rather than anything else.

"But, very well. That girl is a murderer but I will owe your teacher what he demands if we can triumph."

One of the masked n put a hand to his ear, then pointed a finger at . There was a heavy accent to his voice, not European no,... middle eastern?

"Don’t interfere. You’re not a part of this, and our Lord has made an arrangent with your master."

My... what?

"You talked to the Professor?"

"No, the Lord of Valuay. Your true master. Be a good dog, and back off."

...

I watched him, shocked by the sheer audacity you’d need to call soone another person’s dog. It was truly awe-inspiring, the egos on so of these folks were almost as inflated as mine was. They did a much worse job at keeping them in check though.

Grinning, I took a step forward.

"Not one more step."

I took one more step.

"Fine, then it’s on you now. We’re going through him!"

They moved as a single unit, chaining together a spell.

"You know, I’d test out Limitless on you but... nah. You’re just not worth the mana."

Suddenly, the air reeked of ozone. Then, a loud crackle. A blast of thunder. Enough force to tear a reinforced man apart and then take everything behind him too. Unfortunately, lightning manipulation was one of my fortes, and about the oldest magecraft in my arsenal.

I swiped my hand and caught their lightning through the air. It faded into smoke against my palm, which I then proceeded to wipe away on my sweater.

"That was it?" I tilted my head before giving Byron a look. "This is what you were losing to? Sha on you."

He averted his gaze. "My magecraft isn’t geared towards-..."

"That sounds like cope."

The masked n attacked again, so I wasn’t able to continue grilling the older man.

"You gave

one so... that was your only warning."

It made

happy when they ignored that warning instead of being reasonable as I’d co to expect from the foes I faced in this world. They did the cliche thing and attacked

again, with a stronger variation of the sa spell.

"Co on, Byron. We’re done here."

I flicked my wrist and tossed it right back. Without looking at what beca of them, I turned around to leave. The dark clouds overhead roared, and thunder ca barrelling down from angry skies. It was faster than my body could react, of course, but not faster than my mind.

Infinity ca spilling out. The lightning phased out of existence the second it neared . The flash was mildly annoying though.

I faced them with a pleased smile.

"Hey now, good job~. That was actually an inconvenience. But, if that’s all the passion you can muster, I’m afraid you’re going to leave a lot of girls disappointed."

To my surprise, the sa people were not the ones to greet . No, they were lying on the ground, dead or passed out, no idea really. Instead, a young man stepped out of the shadows cast by the forest.

Unlike the blondes I’d encountered thus far in life, this one wasn’t as nice. He was a lot zestier.

Golden hair tied in a pony, brown skin, a white shirt with three buttons left to give a few of his ’chiseled’ chest, suit pants. Wow. He was the whole starter pack. I thought those folk were a lot more secretive in this day and age. I wasn’t one to judge. He was even twirling what looked to be a pair of balls-

Okay, they weren’t balls, but a small pot. A Mystic Code.

"I see why she warned

of you." He said, stepping over his n. "Being a re Cause doesn’t do you justice."

...

"Oh? What’s this? A fan?" I squird. "Kyaaa~. Do you want a selfie? An autograph? Since you’re my first, I’ll always rember you ~ b-but wait, I don’t even know your na-"

Byron’s features beca grim. He spoke with a clenched fist, "Atrum Galliasta."

"Indeed, it is I. Atrum Galliasta."

That sounded stupid. His na was stupid.

"With a na that stupid, I can see why you’d take issue with the world. But first, talk with your parents. They deserve the brunt of it."

"There is nothing wrong with my na!" A bolt of lightning shot from the balls-... pot in his hand. Lightning that impotently struck my infinity before disappearing. He closed his eyes, and let out a small cough. "It’s a cultural difference. Let us leave it at that."

"That’s the sort of cultural difference that’d make

never step out of my room."

His brow twitched. Byron spoke before he could, "Are you here for revenge?"

"Sothing as paltry is beneath . No, I ca to retrieve what is due, what you stole from right out under . That relic, hand it over, or I will destroy you completely. Your Lord has already abandoned you."

I let the two forr lovers argue, soaking the context from their conversation. Obviously, they knew each other. Byron had acquired so relic that Atrum was close to getting. Where from? Well, that beca clear the next second.

"I outbid you fairly. Do not throw a childish tantrum although I do not expect any better from your upstart house."

So, an auction then. Hm, right, I recalled that magi used to have auctions for things of value like the normal folk, just that the items exchanged within them were definitely of magical significance, items like talismans, remnants of heroes, generally things that had a great degree of mystery to them.

Trigger happy as they were, it also stood to reason that they would attack each other over those sa items.

"That is why I co to take it in accordance with the principles of my family." He raised his left hand with a sickening grin. "Take what you want, through force."

I held up a hand too, but more like a student in a classroom. "What if soone does that to you?"

"They are free to, if they can. I will simply take it back after licking my wounds-"

The next mont, he got launched through the trees courtesy of a spartan kick to the chest from yours truly. I even stole his balls-... his pot and held it up to my eyes, lowering my aviators ever so slightly. After all, this wasn’t the kind of place to be casually flaunting my eyes after what Luviagelita told .

I parsed the chanism instantly. It was a simply straightforward one. A little too straightforward, in my opinion.

"Say, Byron..." I stared at the visibly surprised magus. "How old is this family?"

He recollected himself with a start, "Not very old at all. Their rise is only recent. However, their wealth cos from oil, so they have few competitors in that regard."

That explained it.

After all, the ’pot’ just held the mystery of a redundant and failed thod of electricity storage in a by-gone age. That transford any magical energy passed through it into electricity. The most basic chanism I’d ever co across in my life. The only interesting thing about it was that he’d attuned it to react finely to his own mana, allowing a greater manipulation of the produced lightning.

That said, the make was fairly recent. The mystery that made it function was a poor imitation of a battery’s workings mixed with a lightning rod’s.

It was exciting to study for , but there was nothing to write ho about.

"He really thinks he’s hot shit with this toddler magecraft."

I looked at the sky. His ritual for weather-controlling had already begun falling apart now that the n who were maintaining it lay incapacitated at my feet. That ritual too needed a total of thirty-two people to maintain. I stole it, and modified it to work only through .

Then, I hijacked the active ritual entirely.

Mostly because it made for a cool background to my flexing.

"Alright, you can head back, Byron. I’ll clean things up and then we’ll have a nice talk."

"I’ll have the servants prepare a room."

"A milkshake and so pancakes too, please."

The older magus nodded and left. I heard his cane thudding against the forest floor long after he disappeared into the shadows. Soon after, with timing that was awfully convenient, Atrum shuffled out of the forest, clutching his guts as he leaned against a tree, breathing ragged.

"You! Hand it back or else-!"

I tossed it at his feet. "There you go. But, you’re not doing shit."

"I... can see that." He scowled, "But I am not so idiotic as to not account for your abilities."

"Well, you’re certainly proving otherwise right now."

"As I said, Lord Valualeta has endorsed this. Let’s talk... to her."

His minions before, and now him, why was everyone of the thought that I even cared about what that old bag of bones wanted? It wasn’t as if I’d really aligned myself with her. I rely considered the rits of doing such a thing.

But well, Clock Tower politics may have misconstrued the proximity for that. Or maybe people assud that it was just the most reasonable thing for a New Ager like myself to do. Unfortunately, ’reasonable’ was a word that just wasn’t in my dictionary most of the ti.

"I’d rather just beat your ass."

"...What does that get you? What have I done to you? In fact, you are the one who has stained my dignity. A stain I have no intention of forgiving." Though he said that, he showed no intentions of actually doing sothing about it. "But, we can settle that later. What I am here for takes precedence."

I narrowed my eyes. "And what would that be?"

"Now that violence is no longer an option... I must resort to diplomacy with you. As an equal. You have overpowered . And that is the reward you deserve for such a grand feat."

"Really going in with the pride thing there." I snorted.

He ignored , and continued. "I desire the leaf that fell on Siegfried the Dragonslayer when he bathed in the blood of Fafnir. That is what Byron outbid

for. I want my relic back. "

"...Why?"

"For the Holy Grail War."

-

Hope you enjoyed.

You can find 7 chonky Chapters ahead at patre0n/Bleap